‘China doesn’t want these built’: Trump claims Beijing is behind AI data centre protests

Trump threatens Iran with ‘a tremendous attack, the biggest since World War II’ if it fails to comply with his demands on Strait of Hormuz

“Look, whoever wins the AI race is going to win AI. It’s bigger than the internet. It’s bigger than maybe anything that has happened for literally hundreds of years.”

Trump alleged that China was actively encouraging resistance to new AI infrastructure in the US.

“The communities that are giving us a hard time, a lot of people think that’s China-oriented. You know that China doesn’t want these … They’re spending a lot of money on promoting ‘don’t … you know, build’ because we’re beating China in AI,” he said.

Calling AI data centres a “tremendous thing”, Trump argued that the facilities brought significant economic benefits. He said many of the new plants generated their own electricity and could sell excess power back to the grid at low cost, helping reduce taxes while boosting nearby property values.

Communities rejecting such projects, he warned, were “making a big mistake”.

“We’re really doing a great job. I approved … It was my idea, actually,” Trump said.